Gauging 3 elite recruits Texas football could land in July
As of early July, second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff are on a roll building out the 2023 Texas football recruiting class over the course of the last few weeks. Texas had maybe the hottest stretch on the recruiting trail in the last few decades for this program in the previous few weeks, which was sparked by one significant commitment in late June.
What sparked this major run on the recruiting trail for Sark and the Longhorns staff in the 2023 class was landing a commitment from the elite five-star Isidore Newman quarterback Arch Manning. Texas landed the insanely-talented Louisiana native signal caller Manning back on June 23.
Since getting Arch, the Longhorns have more than doubled the size of the 2023 class. Texas has also landed a whopping three five-star commits, including Arch, since June 23. The other five-star commits in the 2023 class are DeSoto wide receiver Johntay Cook and Westgate (LA) safety Derek Williams.
As of the afternoon of July 9, Texas sits at 18 commits in the 2023 class. And while we’re likely going to see a slow down in momentum on the recruiting trail later this month as we’re sitting in the midst of the dead period, there could still be some fascinating days ahead before the summer concludes.
Updating some key blue-chips that Texas football could land in the near future
With that in mind, here’s a gauging of three top recruits for the Longhorns 2023 class that could join the mix at some point in the next few weeks.
Jalen Hale, WR
There are two wide receiver targets at this point of the offseason that are firmly on the radar of the Longhorns. With four-star Langham Creek wide receiver target Jaquaize Pettaway committing to the Oklahoma Sooners last week, fellow four-stars Mikal-Harrison Pilot and Jalen Hale make up the rest of the top of the big board at this position for the Longhorns 2023 class.
The Temple product Harrison-Pilot and Longview product Hale are the two wideouts among targets of the Longhorns 2023 class that are likely to duke it out for the final remaining spot at the position. Texas already has three wide receiver commits in the 2023 class between Cook, four-star Dekaney product Jonah Wilson, and four-star Aldine Eisenhower (TX) product Ryan Niblett.
Hale seems like he has the higher upside of these two wide receiver recruits. But Harrison-Pilot would likely bring more versatility to the table for the Longhorns.
The weird part about this situation brewing for new wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Brennan Marion in the 2023 class at the position is how different these two wideouts really are.
If Texas does manage to land a commitment from Hale, that would truly round out this wide receiver class for the 2023 cycle with three players that could all be vying for key live-game reps from Day 1 on the Forty Acres.
At the moment, Hale is boiling his decision down to a group of three schools that includes the Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, and Texas. If a frontrunner had to be named among this top group, I would say it’s Texas right now. But that could change in a hurry with both Georgia and Alabama posing significant competition on the recruiting trail for Hale.